Typographical composing and casting machine



Aug. 3, 1937. E. H. ATKINS TYPOGRAPHICAL COMPOSING AND CASTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 20, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Y cf? 34 W 722 3 7 7018 NZ Ys.

Aug. 3, 1937. E. 'H. ATKINS 2,088,989

TYPOGRAPHICAL COMPOSING AND CASTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 20, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 lNVE/VTOR Aug. 3, 1937. E. H. ATKINS TYPOGRAPHICAL COMPOSING AND CASTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 20, 1935 5 Sheets$heet 5 INVENTOR 676! W A TTORNEYS.

Patented Aug. 3, 1937 iJiE TYPOGRAPHICAL CUMPOSING AND CAST- ING MACHINE tion of New York Application September 20, 1935, Serial No. 41,351

10 Claims.

This invention relates to slug casting machines of the general organization represented in U. S. Letters Patent to O. Mergenthaler, No. 436,532, wherein circulating matrices are released from a magazine in the order in which their characters are to appear in print and then composed in line, the composed line transferred to a vertically movable transporter or first elevator which presents it to the mold, the mold filled with molten T metal to form a slug or typebar against the matrices which produce the type characters thereon, and the matrices thereafter elevated and returned through a distributing mechanism to l the magazine from, which they started. At the 1 5 time the matrices are being elevated and distributed, the cast slug is ejected from the mold and forced between a pair of trimming knives mounted on the vise frame and which dress down the sides of the slug and bring it to the proper thickness.

In these machines, it is necessary at times to vary the vertical position of the first elevator during casting in order to bring about the proper alinement of the matrix characters with the mold slot. For instance, in the use of matrices bearing characters up to 14 pt., the elevator is ordinarily allowed to descend to its lowermost level; whereas, in the use of matrices with characters ranging from 14 pt. to 42 pt., the elevator is arrested at a slightly higher level. In recent years, improvements have been made to adapt the machine to handle matrices with characters above 42 pt., and as high as 60 pt. and more, so that it has been necessary in the use of such 35 matrices to arrest the elevator at a still higher level. For arresting the elevator at its higher levels, the vise frame is ordinarily provided with two pivoted filler pieces or stop members, so constructed and arranged that either may be swung into or out of operative position as desired, their construction and mode of operation being fully described in U. S. Letters Patent to D. S. Kennedy No. 1,595,947.

In these machines, it is also the practice to 45 remove the shavings from the knives after a slug has. been trimmed and before the next slug is delivered therethru, and this is ordinarily accomplished by the use of a knife wiper which is controlled or actuated by the movement of the 50 first elevator, either in its descent or in its ascent. However, when the knife wiper is actuated by the downward movement of the first elevator and the elevator is arrested at its upper casting levels, the wiper fails to make a complete wiping stroke 55 (i. e. fails to travel the full length of the knife blades), and hence, in casting full length slugs, some of the shavings are not removed from the knife blades and give rise to the undesirable features which the Wiper was originally intended to eliminate.

An arrangement has already been provided whereby the stroke of the knife wiper may be kept uniform, regardless of the level at which the elevator is arrested, its construction and mode of operation being fully described in U. S. Letters Patent to Harold A. Burt, No. 1,902,434. Briefly, according to this arrangement, the elevator is provided with a pivotally mounted lever, one arm of which is adapted to actuate the knife wiping mechanism, and the other arm of which is provided with a manually adjustable pin which is set to strike the vise frame shortly before the elevator comes to rest, except when the elevator' descends to its lowermost level, thereby causing the lever arm to rock about its pivot a predetermined extent necessary to give a full stroke to the knife wiper.

The present invention, specifically, contemplates an arrangement whereby the manually adjustable pin is eliminated and means provided so that when the filler piece is swung into and out of operative position, the uniform stroke of the knife wiper will be maintained automatically. To this end, a banking block is slidably arranged on the vise frame and connected by a link and crank arm to the pivot of the filler piece, such that when the filler piece is swung into operative position the block will be moved into the path of the lever arm, which in striking against the block will be rocked about its pivot just enough to complete the stroke of the knife wiper and thus compensate for the failure of the elevator to descend to its lowermost or vise contacting position. On the other hand, when the filler piece is returned to its inoperative position, the banking block is automatically moved back to its original position out of the path of the knife wiper actuating lever.

In the accompanying drawings, the invention is shown merely by way of example and in preferred form, and obviously many changes and variations may be made therein which will still be comprised within its spirit. It should be understood, therefore, that the invention is not limited to any specific form or embodiment, except insofar as such limitations are specified in the appended claims.

Refering to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the vise frame and first elevator, showing the knife wiper at the beginning of its stroke, and showing the rocking lever mounted on the elevator;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation similar to Fig. 1, but showing the elevator at its lowermost level and the knife wiper at the end of its stroke;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation similar to Fig. 2, showing the elevator arrested at an upper level and the lever rocked by the banking block to give a full stroke to the knife wiper;

Fig. i is a top plan view, the elevator head being partly broken away to show the relation of the several parts to one another when the filler piece and banking block are in operative position;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, but showing the filler piece and banking block in inoperative I banking block, showing in detail the connection between them.

After composition, the line of matrices M is delivered to the first elevator A, as shown in Fig. l, and then lowered thereby to the position shown in Fig. 2 in front of the mold B carried by the rotatable disc B The mold disc B immediately advances to bring the mold B into contact with the matrix line for the casting of the slug, and after the slug is cast, the mold disc is retracted and rotated to carry the mold from its horizontal casting position to a vertical position immediately in front of an ejector (not shown),

vwhich operates to expel the slug from the mold and force it between a pair of trimming knives C, whence the slug is delivered to a receiving galley (not shown) at the front of the machine. During the slug ejecting operation, the first elevator A ascends to its highest level to deliver the com,- p-osed line to the distributing devices, and thereafter descends to its normal position of rest (shown in Fig. 1) in readiness to receive another composed line.

As already stated, in casting slugs from matrices bearing characters of a size greater than 14 pt., it is necessary to arrest the first elevator in its descent at levels somewhat higher than the level at which it is arrested when casting from matrices bearing characters of a size under 14 pt. Ordinarily, the elevator is arrested at its lowermost level by an adjusting pin D, depending from the underside of the elevator head A and which strikes the top face E of the stationary vise frame E wherein the elevator is slidably mounted as usual. In order to arrest the elevator at the higher levels, there are provided two filler pieces F and F the latter fast to a pivot rod 1 running transversely across the top of the vise frame and equipped with a knurled knob f for turning it, and the former being loosely mounted on the pivot rod. In practice, to arrest the elevator at an intermediate level, the filler piece F is moved into the position shown in Fig. 4, and to arrest If more detailed information is desired, refer- .=..'in Fig. 1 to that shown in Fig. -2.

once may be had to the Kennedy Patent No. 1,595,947, above referred to.

As illustrated in the drawings, and as embodied r .in the commercial machines, the trimming knives G is. supported by a rod 9, arranged at the back of the vise frame and guided in its vertical movement by a bracket g attached to said frame. In order that the blade G will not ride directly on the cutting edges of the knives, the upper end of the rod g is formed with a projection g adapted to bear against the body of one of the trimming knives and to slide longitudinally thereon. At its lower end, the rod 9 is journalled in the hub portion 9 of a link member g which connects the rod g to a similar rod 9 at the front of the vise frame, the connecting member 9 being rigidly and adjustably secured to the rod g by the nuts 9 and g". A coiled spring 3, wound about the hub g and bearing against the rod 9, tends constantly to hold the wiper blade in proper relation to the trimming knives.

The wiping blade G is held in its normal or raised position by a compression spring g surrounding the rod 9 and arranged between two fixed brackets H and H on the stationary vise frame E the upper or free end of the spring bearing against an adjusting nut 9 carried by the rod 9 and separated from the bracket H by a collar g For operating the knife wiper, there is ordinarily provided a pin J, projecting from the elevator A and adapted to strike the top of the rod 9 as the elevator A descends, whereby the wiper is forced downward against the pressure of the compression spring 9 which later raises the wiper back to its upper normal position as the elevator ascends,

The movement of the elevator when it descends to its lowest casting level is just enough to impart a full stroke to the knife wiper (compare Figs. 1 and 2) and it is obvious, therefore, that when the elevator is arrested at one or another of the higher casting levels, the wiper blade G will fail completely to traverse the cutting edges of the knives C and hence, when full length slugs are being cast, will fail to clean the lowermost ends of the knives. Therefore, a lever O is pivotally mounted on the first elevator A as at 0 with one arm 0 arranged between the pin J and the rod g while the other arm 0 of the lever extends over the top surface E of the vise frame E Except when the first elevator descends to its lowerinost level, the lever O is adapted to be rocked about its pivot 0 just before the elevator A comes to rest and multiply the movement of the elevator sufficiently to impart a full stroke to the knife wiper.

The expedient provided by the present invention for controlling the rocking of the lever 0 comprises a banking block P slidably arranged on the top surface E of the vise frame E and consisting of two sections P and P mounted for relative adjustment on. a common pivot rod 10 extending transversely of the vise frame E The section P is employed alone when the elevator A is arrested at its intermediate level; while both sections P and P are used when the elevator is arrested at its uppermost level. When the section P is in use it occupies the dotted line position shown in Fig. 6, resting on top of the section P and is rendered inoperative by being swung relatively to the section P to the full line position shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, where it lies idly on top of the vise frame E As best shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the pivot rod p for the banking block P extends beyond the front edge of the vise frame E where it bends downwardly to avoid interfering with the descent of the elevator A, and then at right angles along the front face of the vise frame, terminating in a flattened portion p drilled to accommodate a pivot screw p by which it is secured to the free end of a crank arm 10 fixed to the pivot rod f on which the filler pieces F and F are mounted. With this arrangement, rotation of the pivot rod 1 to swing the filler piece F into operative position rotates the crank arm 10 to the position shown in Figs. 4 and 6, causing the banking block P to be moved into operative position beneath the lever Reverse rotation of the pivot rod 1 of course returns both the filler piece F and banking block P to their inoperative positions, as shown in Fig. 5.

The operation of the parts will now be clear: The elevator A, having received a composed line of matrices M, positions the same in proper castin'grelation 'to the mold B; If the'matrices bear characters less than 14 pt. in size, the elevator is permitted to descend to its lowermost level, as in Fig. 2, in order to aline the matrix characters with the mold slot 73, and hence no filler piece is employed and the banking block P remains in its inoperative position, as shown in Fig. 5. In the descent of the elevator, the arm o of the lever O, which in this example acts merely as an interponent between the pin J and the upper end of the rod 9 causes the latter to move downward against the pressure of the compression spring g until the elevator is arrested by contact of the pin D with the top E of the vise frame E and this downward movement of the rod g is sufiicient to cause the knife wiping blade G to traverse the entire length of the knife edges, or in other words (because of the full descent of the elevator) to make a complete wiping stroke (compare Figs. 1 and 2).

If, however, as a further example, the matrices carried by the elevator should happen to be of a size greater than 14 pt., the filler piece F is swung into active position, as in Figs. 3, 4 and 6, and the elevator will therefore be arrested in its descent at its intermediate level, due of course to the fact that the pin D strikes against the filler piece rather than directly on the top of the vise frame. The actual movement of the elevator is consequently less than in the former example, but this is compensated for by the banking block P (with the section P operative) which is automatically moved into position to be engaged by the lever arm 0 when the filler piece F is swung into operative position. As a result, just before the elevator is arrested by the pin D, the end of the lever arm 0 will strike against the section P of the block P and rock the lever O counterclockwise about its pivot 0 causing the arm 0 to depress the rod 9 away from the pin J for a distance sufficient to complete the stroke of the wiper G (see Fig. 3).

If the line of matrices bear characters above 42 pt., the second filler piece F is moved into active position (in superposed relation to the filler piece F for the arrest of the elevator at its uppermost level, and to compensate for the incomplete descent of the elevator in this case, the section P is brought into action by being turned about the pivot rod p into superposed relation to the section P as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 6, and the lever O is thus caused to rock to a greater extent than before and sufficiently to complete the strike of the wiper G.

It is pointed out that in some instances, one or more stepped banking blocks are employed in place of the filler pieces F and F for arresting the elevator at its different levels; and also that there are arrangements for automatically locating the filler pieces or stepped banking blocks in operative position according to the level at which the matrices are composed in line. The present invention is of course applicable to these and similar arrangements, the essence of the invention consisting of automatically controlling the knife wiper so that it will have a full stroke regardless of the casting position of the first elevator.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a line transporter, means for varying the casting position of the transporter, slug trimming knives, means for cleaning the knives, operative connections between the transporter and said cleaning means for actuating the l'atteryand automatically controlled means whereby the extent of the knife cleaning action may be kept uniform regardless of the casting position of the transporter, said means including a multiplying device for imparting a full stroke to the knife cleaning means when the transporter fails to partake of a full stroke.

2. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a line transporter, means for varying the casting position of the transporter, slug trimming knives, means for cleaning the knives, operative connections between the transporter and said cleaning means for actuating the latter, means whereby the extent of the knife cleaning action may be kept uniform regardless of the casting position of the transporter, and connections whereby said latter means are controlled automatically by the means for varying the casting position of the transporter.

3. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a line transporter, adjustable means for arresting the transporter at one or another of different casting levels, a pair of slug trimming knives, a wiper associated with the knives, operative connections between the transporter and the knife wiper whereby the active or wiping stroke of the latter is imparted thereto by the downward movement of the transporter, adjustable means whereby the extent of the knife cleaning action may be kept uniform regardless of the casting position of the transporter, and connections between said two adjustable means to insure their proper coordination.

4. In a slug casting machine, the combination of an elevator, adjustable means for arresting the elevator at one or another of different casting levels, a pair of slug trimming knives, a wiper associated with the knives, operative connections between the elevator and the knife wiper whereby the active or wiping stroke of the latter is imparted thereto by the downward movement of the elevator, said connections including a pivoted actuating lever carried by the elevator and operative to impart a full stroke to the knife wiper when the elevator is arrested at an upper level, and a banking block mounted independently of the elevator and movable into and out of position to be engaged by said lever to actuate it in the required manner.

5. In a slug casting machine, the combination of an elevator, adjustable means for arresting the elevator at one or another of different casting levels, a pair of slug trimming knives, a wiper associated with the knives, operative connections between the elevator and the knife wiper whereby the active or wiping stroke of the latter is imparted thereto by the downward movement of the elevator, said connections including a pivoted actuating lever carried by the elevator and opera-- tive to impart a full stroke to the knife wiper when the elevator is arrested at an upper level, a banking block mounted independently of the elevator and movable into and out of position to be engaged by said lever to actuate it in the required manner, and operative connections between the banking block and the elevator arresting means whereby the banking block is automatically moved into operative position by the adjustment of said arresting means to operative position.

6. A combination as in claim 4, wherein the banking block is formed with sections standing at difierent levels to be engaged by the pivoted actuating lever.

7. A combination as in claim 4, wherein the banking block comprises two relatively adjustable sections adapted to be employed singly or collectively according to the level at which the elevator is arrested.

8. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a line transporter, an adjustable filler piece mounted on a pivot and adapted to be swung into operative position to arrest the elevator at an upper level, slug trimming knives, a wiper for cleaning the knives, operative connections between the elevator and the knife wiper whereby the active or wiping stroke of the latter is imparted thereto by the downward movement of the elevator, a lever pivoted to the elevator and adapted to be rocked to actuate the knife wiper to complete its stroke when the elevator is arrested at an upper level, a banking block mounted independently of the elevator and arranged to be moved into the path of the lever for engagement therewith to actuate the lever, and connections between the banking block and the filler piece pivot whereby the banking block is automatically moved into operative position when the filler piece is adjusted to arrest the elevator.

9. A combination as in claim 8, wherein two relatively adjustable filler pieces are provided to arrest the elevator at either of two different upper levels, and wherein the banking block comprises two sections standing at two different levels to be engaged by the wiper actuating lever according to the level at which the elevator is arrested.

10. A combination as in claim 8, wherein two relatively adjustable filler pieces are provided to arrest the elevator at either of two different upper levels, and wherein the banking block comprises two sections standing at two different levels to be engaged by the wiper actuating lever according to the level at which the elevator is arrested, said sections being relatively adjustable and one overlying the other when employed collectively.

EDGAR H. ATKINS. 

